Rent-A-Bride (3 page)

“I’ve been blessed. I got the chance to raise not one but two exceptional men. And for forty five years I basked in the love of a good woman.” A slight smile crossed Stanley’s mouth and with his eyes closed to Ed it looked as if he were experiencing a pleasant dream. “I just wish I could’ve lived to see you find that one special woman. That’s really my only regret.”

Ed took his grandfather’s hand in his and glanced at the beeping machines on the other side of Stanley’s bed wondering how much longer they could hold him to the world.

“I think I have.” Ed realized he’d lost the battle to be strong when he felt the first tear sliding down his face.

“What’s that?” Stanley frowned slightly.

Some part of his soul acknowledged that lying to a dying man had to be wrong, but that part was overruled by the hopeful curiosity he saw in his grandfather’s eyes when they opened again.

He wiped away another tear and swallowed his last bit of hesitation. “I’ve found the woman of my dreams and she’s agreed to marry me.”

Stanley’s frown deepened. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Ed shrugged. His mind searching to fill in the blanks. That was the problem with lies. To be believable they needed as much detail as truth. “With everything going on it must’ve just slipped my mind.”

“Your future wife just slipped your mind?” Stanley attempted a chuckle but it caught in his throat. “Not a good start, son. Not a good start.”

Ed smiled. “No, I guess it’s not.”

“So, tell me about her.”

“Well…she’s beautiful. And she has a great sense of humor.”

Stanley huffed. “She would have to, to be with you.”

Ed’s heart warmed to see that slight glimpse of playfulness return. “She’s a sports fan—like you.”

“What does she do?”

“Do?”

“For a living?”

“Oh.” Ed coughed into his hand as his brain worked something out. “She’s a…” His eyes caught a glimpse of someone passing in the hallway. “Nurse. She’s a nurse.”

“Here?”

“No, no, not here. She works …at a hospital across town.”

Stanley huffed again. “That narrows it down.”

“Yes, well, it’s actually a clinic—a small one—I forget the name.” Ed glanced out the window at the silent TV hanging from the wall, the beeping machines, anywhere but into those weak eyes that seem to be getting stronger and sharper by the second.

“I want to meet her.”

Ed smiled wistfully. “As soon as you’re feeling better I’ll bring her by. Okay?”

Stanley nodded slightly as his eyes drifted close again. Ed waited several minutes until he was sure his grandfather was sleeping and returned to his chair. A few moments later he was asleep as well.

Just as the sun was setting that evening Ed felt a hand on his shoulder and awoke to find Steve smiling down at him. On an instinctual level Steve’s smile offended him and he wanted to punch his friend in the face for daring to smile at a time like this.

Instead he pushed himself into an upright position. “Everything okay?”

“Better than okay.” Steve continued to smile.

Suddenly Ed realized that smile signified something. “What do you mean?”

Steve handed him a sheet of paper. “These results are from three hours ago and this one…” He pointed at something lower on the page. “Is from an hour ago.”

Ed sat straight up in the chair as he took in the information. His eyes widened as he looked up at Steve still beaming beside him. “Are you sure?”

“I had it tested twice to be sure.”

Ed stood slowly his eyes going from the paper to Stanley’s sleeping form. “But…but how?”

Steve shook his head clearly as befuddled as Ed. “In all the years I’ve been doing this I have never seen anything like this.”

“Has he woke at all?”

“No, he’s slept like a babe all afternoon. I just wanted you to know as soon as possible. Against all odds, somehow his body has sent the disease into remission.”

Ed’s pragmatic nature refused to take the bait. “We think—I mean we don’t know that’s what’s happened.”

Steve frowned slighted and then understanding crossed his face. “You’re right. It’s really too soon to know for sure. I’ll keep monitoring the situation every hour but for now it seems we‘ve been given some grace.”

Steve left a few minutes later leaving Ed alone with his sleeping grandfather. Stanley had been fighting off cancer for several months now and that fight had included both traditional and experimental drugs along with several sessions of intense chemotherapy so understandably Ed was having a hard time accepting the evidence of the T-cell report. What could’ve caused a dying body to suddenly stop dying?

He lifted his grandfather’s hand in his, careful to avoid the intravenous needles taped to it. He studied the neatly cut nails thinking of all the loving embraces as well as slaps on the rump that hand had given. As he stood there Stanley slowly opened his eyes and focused on his face.

“How you feel?” Ed asked warily.

Stanley nodded thoughtfully. “Okay, a little better than earlier.”

“Want some water?” Ed released his hand as he turned to pour water into a cup.

“No, not that.” Stanley shook his head slightly. He reached up and touched Ed’s arm to turn his attention from the water cup he was filling. Once Ed turned to look at him a soft smile came across Stanley’s face. “What
I want
…is to meet my future granddaughter-in-law.

W
hen Amelia stepped off the bus two blocks from her boarding house she swiped away the tears that seem to persist no matter how she continued to wipe them away wondering if she’d just condemned herself to a fate worse than the one she ran away from.

Another full day was gone and she was no closer to finding a job. She unraveled the shredded tissue she’d taken from the gas station bathroom before boarding the bus and wiped her nose. After the twenty minute ride it was now a crumpled mess.

This was not at all the way things were supposed to have gone. When Amelia boarded that Greyhound bus in Detroit two years ago heading to Los Angeles she’d been so sure of her future. Of course, she realized thousands of would-be actors and actresses took that same journey from their own hometowns every day but she truly believed that with a lot of pavement pounding and dedication she could make it. And if it didn’t happen right away like a lot of actors and actresses, she would just find a job waiting tables or something until her break came. But instead nothing had happened the way she thought it would.

Amelia had answered several ads for apartments but without
sound
employment – as they called it – no one would rent to her. Not even other actors! Disappointed but not discouraged she decided to approach the problem from another angle. She’d checked into a low price motel and began looking for a job. The problem she soon ran into there was that no employer considered her motel address a
real address
. And when in final frustration she pointed out that she couldn’t get a
real
address without a
real
job to the representative of a temporary agency she applied to the woman had basically told her to go home—and she didn’t mean the motel.

But that was not an option either. Amelia hadn’t had a real home since she was thirteen and her widowed mother remarried. Even at thirteen Amelia had known there was something wrong about the way her new stepfather looked at her and her mother had noticed it too. But instead of confronting her new husband she shipped her only daughter off to a relative, a great aunt who’d been too old and sick to act as guardian to an increasingly rebellious teenage girl.

Aunt Kay did the best she could. She got Amelia through high school and helped her pay for some drama courses at the local community college but just a week before Amelia’s twentieth birthday Kay quietly passed away in her sleep. A day later Kay’s four children quickly descended on the house and scooped up what little she had and once again Amelia found herself homeless and alone.

So, on her twentieth birthday she borrowed two hundred bucks from some friends and bought a ticket to what she thought would be a new and better life. So far it wasn’t.

Amelia had always been told she was too stubborn, but during those first few months in L.A. that stubbornness had paid off. Despite the constant rejection she had stuck it out selling everything she owned but her body until finally she landed a small role in an auto insurance commercial. The part had only paid her a few hundred dollars but more importantly it had renewed her hope in the future, her faith in her dreams.

Shortly after the commercial she found a job at a fast food restaurant and that lasted for almost a year but when some money came up missing from the safe during her shift everyone on duty that night —including Amelia—was fired.

It was a traumatic blow because the cloud of the unsolved theft made it impossible to find another similar job. Thankfully she was able to live off the money she’d saved for several months and during that time she’d even found an agent. Not
much
of an agent but still, she counted it as progress, at least until today.

Add the fact that her savings had run out about four months ago and other than the one commercial she hadn’t had any more acting job offers unless you counted what had just happened. And for the first time in three years Amelia could feel her resolve crumbling. For the first time she was considering going home and possibly throwing herself on the mercy of her family.

Maybe things would be different now. She was a grown woman not a young girl anymore. And besides she missed her younger brother, Byron. When she’d been sent away he had been left behind and although the two siblings had tried to keep in touch once Amelia’s money ran low she could only use the minutes on her phone for work related calls.

Even as her mind worked furiously on a solution to her problem she picked her way along the trash strewn streets of south central L.A. working her way toward the boarding house that had been home for the past eighteen months.

Her cell phone rung and she reached into her purse. One look at the ID caller and she dropped it back in her purse. The ringing stopped and then started up again. Amelia reached into her purse planning to turn the phone off but decided first she wanted to get some things off her chest so she answered it instead.

“What?!”

“Where are you? Billy said you ran out on him.”

“You know, Terry, when I signed on with you I knew you were an asshole. I didn’t know you were a pimp, as well.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Billy said it was just some soft core stuff. A little fondling gets you a fifteen hundred dollar payday and me a ten percent commission. What’s not to like?”

“I went in there thinking this was a real part in a movie—”

“It was!”

“A porn movie, Terry!”

“So what?”

Amelia shook her head in frustration. “You know what? Never mind. You’re fired.”

“Wait! Wait! Amelia, don’t hang up!”

“What could you possibly have to say that I would want to hear?”

“I found a job that will pay us ten thousand dollars!”

Amelia stopped walking. “What did you say?”

“You heard me, ten K!”

She shook her head deciding that it had to be something shady at best, illegal at worst. “Nope. You only get one chance to punk me. I’m done with you.”

“Just hear me out!”

Amelia knew she should just hang up the phone, but ten grand was a lot of money. Especially for a struggling actress who was literally down to her last two dollars. With a defeated sigh she started walking again. “I’m listening.”

“It’s a sorta live-action, role playing part. You pretend to be this guy’s fiancée for a couple of—”

“No!”

“Just listen.”

“You think I don’t know what you’re up to—you son-of-a-bitch?” She quickly looked both ways before darting across a busy avenue. “
Pretend
to be some guy’s fiancée, huh? Do I
pretend
to have sex with him too?”

“It’s not like that, Amelia! I’m telling you this is easy money for both of us and no freaky stuff. I promise.”

She snorted.

“Just listen, okay? This is about the guy’s grandfather. He’s about to croak and this dude just wants to show him a fiancée before he dies.”

She frowned liking the sound of this less and less. “Why?”

“Who knows? Maybe the old man put some kind of stipulation in his will or something—how would I know?! All you and I need to know is that he’s willing to pay us ten thousand dollars for you to just show up for one day and act like you’re all in love with him—
and
you get to keep your clothes on. Is that a sweet deal or what?”

Amelia rounded the corner to her block. “I don’t know, Terry.”

“I should tell you, there is one catch.”

“I knew it! I
knew
it!”

“It’s just the guy lives in Michigan so you would have to fly there
tonight
. Don’t worry, I’ll buy the ticket.”

Amelia frowned as she spotted a large group of people crowded outside the front of her boarding house. She could hear the sounds of raised voices, mixed with horns blowing as cars crowded the street near the huddle of people. “Terry, I’m gonna have to call you back.”

“Okay, but I need an answer in the next hour, Amelia! The old guy may go at any minute so the client is pretty anxious for someone to get there. You know, before it’s too late.”

“Fine. I’ll call you back.” She hung up the phone and ran the rest of the distance. As she reached the crowd she realized most of them were other tenants of the boarding house. When she glanced at the house she saw a sheet of paper taped to the front door.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach she slowly approached the stairs leading up to the door and climbed. Even before she reached the top stair she could clearly read the word: FORECLOSURE written in bold letters across the top of the paper. That sinking feeling turned to butterflies that took flight throughout her entire body.

On the door handle was a large mental locking device with a keypad. In a daze Amelia lifted it and looked at it as if unable to believe what she was seeing.